BRIDGEPORT — One of the bright spots from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ past two springs was the play of a teenage defenseman. Parker Wotherspoon arrived from junior hockey both seasons and impressed.

He turned 20 in August and opened his first professional season in the stands, scratched from the first two games and three of the first four.

Even teenage sensations have their growing pains.

“His camp was just OK,” Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson said. “Now he’s consistently getting better again. It’s not a sprint. It’s where you go by the end of the year.”

Wotherspoon has played the past four games now for Bridgeport, which fell to 3-5 on Saturday. He said he’s gaining confidence from that and trying to build on getting in the lineup consistently.

“I thought I did well when I came here in the spring,” Wotherspoon said, “so I knew I could play here.”

Springtime success is no guarantee of a big winter. The Sound Tigers alone have had youngsters show up after their amateur seasons in March or April and look like can’t-miss prospects, only to vanish within a year or two.

“There is a difference,” Thompson said. “You see it with a lot of college kids. They come in and put up 10 points in 10 games, and then the next year struggle to get their offense up.

“At the end of a season, whether they’re geared up for playoffs, coming off a long run ... they come in and bring adrenaline. Now, all of a sudden (next year), you’re back to the regular grind.”

There were things that the parent New York Islanders, who drafted Wotherspoon in the fourth round two years ago, saw he needed to work on in the spring, and Thompson said Wotherspoon is working on them.

“He competes hard,” Thompson said. “He needs to work on his feet, to do things that half-second quicker.”

And, Thompson added later, “I like that he’s in guys’ faces.”

Wotherspoon said he’s working on getting stronger in one-on-one battles. It’s a common focus for young defensemen, rookies in particular, and Bridgeport has three, counting Sebastian Aho, who has played professionally in his native Sweden.

Wotherspoon has been paired with the other rookie, Mitch Vande Sompel, who’s also his roommate.

“Us three rookies are really good friends,” Wotherspoon said. “We help each other out. If one’s down, we try to pick him up. ... We all want each other to succeed.”

Bridgeport sent a rookie forward to its ECHL affiliate in Worcester on Monday. Matt Gaudreau, who had been scratched the past three games after recording one power-play assist in the first five games, was sent down.